


There Are No Accidents

by ktao3



Category: Mass Effect
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-22
Updated: 2014-10-22
Packaged: 2018-02-22 05:44:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,852
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2496635
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ktao3/pseuds/ktao3
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>More on the relationship between the daughters of Femshep/Liara and Aria T'Loak/Tevos. Inspired by Rae D. Magdon's "Starcrossed Lovers" (part of her great series on the relationship between Aria and Tevos from  Mass Effect). </p><p>This is my first fanfiction. Constructive criticism and suggestions for tags--or anything else--welcomed.</p>
            </blockquote>





	There Are No Accidents

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Starcrossed Lovers](https://archiveofourown.org/works/576402) by [RaeDMagdon](https://archiveofourown.org/users/RaeDMagdon/pseuds/RaeDMagdon). 



The shuttle flying over the outskirts of Armali was filled with the happy voices of young soldiers relieved to be returning to base after a long week of joint exercises for junior trainees. Humans, asari, and turians cursed, laughed, and mocked one another good-naturedly. A hormonal haze hung in the air.

A young turian leaned in toward Lycoris Tevos. “Tevos, you always that crazy with a gun in your hands?” he asked, narrowing his eyes suggestively.

She took in his expression and snorted before replying, “Arrius, you’ll never know.” A pause. “But you’ll always wonder.” She had her father’s lean body, along with her simmering attitude and healthy self-regard. A few of those close to them snickered.

Jessica, the female human next to Lycoris piped up, “Arrius, buddy, don’t waste your time. Tevos here is true blue. Non-Asari need not apply. Plus she’s in looove.” She dragged out the last word. “And her girlfriend is way hotter than you.”

“And smarter than all of you combined,” Lycoris thought to herself.

“Hotter than me? I’m gonna have to see some pics so I can decide for myself.” Arrius replied, trying to use humor to save face and keep the mood friendly.

Lycoris considered how to respond. She had no problem with Arrius, had even enjoyed fighting alongside him, if only in mock battle. Should she go with a withering remark or just share a stunning image of Athena and let him drown in jealousy? Her vanity made her lean toward the photo option.

She started to look through images on her omni-tool. Arrius was eying her expectantly when everything exploded.

 

At first Lycoris was overwhelmed by the ringing in her ears and the smoke burning her throat and eyes. She tried to clear it by waving her hands, but it was too thick. The lurching of the shuttle was giving her vertigo. As the ringing subsided, she heard cries and groans mixed with alarms from the shuttle. Panic grew as she tried to understand what was happening. A bomb? A searing pain in her right ankle began to pulse into her brain. She pushed the pain and panic down. 

A voice barked out, “Brace for impact. Brace for impact.” She clung to the bench. She felt Jessica grab her hand, and she squeezed back. She thought of Athena and wondered if she’d ever see her again.

Then the shuttle crashed and everything went black.

When Lycoris came to, she was on the ground. Its comforting solidness and the throbbing pain in her leg reassured her that she was alive for now. She felt dizzy and her vision wasn’t quite clear yet. When she reached for her head, it was bleeding a little. Suddenly, Jessica was leaning over her. 

“Tevos, can you get up?”

A sound mixing pain and effort came out of her throat as she struggled to push up to a sitting position. “I . . . I don’t know.” Her lower right leg looked mangled, bloody and burned. Her head was swimming. She didn’t think she could walk. Next to her Arrius stirred. His legs were a mess too.

He looked up at her, confused, “What the hell is happening?” She just shrugged confusion back. “I don’t know. We crashed. A bomb in the shuttle, I think.”

Jessica looked the two of them over, then said, “I think some others are hurt worse than us. I’m leaving you for a minute. Just stay here together.”

Lycoris watched Jessica walking away, checking on other soldiers in the wreckage. She patted the figure beside her on the shoulder. “Arrius, I think I have to lie back down. Are you okay?”

The last thing she heard was Arrius saying, “Yeah, Tevos, I’m okay. I’m still waiting to see your hot girlfriend.”

 

Athena T’Soni’s piercing green eyes stared at the image on the screen in front of her, her light blue skin almost shimmering in its glow. She wrinkled her brow, unsure what to make of what she was seeing, then turned to enter a few notes into another computer. Her specialty was the effect of environmental factors on asari epigenetics, but it was a complex field. The effects her research group had theorized they would find were not showing up in the data as expected. All she could do now was observe what was happening in the samples, take copious notes, and analyze it all later. But it was getting late. She was the only one left in the lab, as often happened Friday evenings.

The buzzing of her omni-tool broke her concentration. She smiled. “Cor must finally be able to call,” she thought to herself. But the number on the screen made her smile disappear and her heart begin to pound. 

Lycoris had “asked” Athena to be her registered emergency contact when she had started training with the Joint Forces. She remembered them lying in bed, Corrie kissing the back of her hand as she explained, “If something minor happens, I don’t want to have to deal with my parents. If something major happens, I want you to be there. Then you’ll have to deal with my parents.” Corrie had laughed, “You’re way better at it than I am anyway.” Athena had considered for a long moment, then said, “Okay, I’ll do it.” Corrie had just laughed even harder, “Oh, Athena. That’s good, because I already registered your number.”

“Cor!” Athena had groaned with exasperation, trying to pull away from her, but Corrie had just pulled her back with ease and pressed their foreheads together. “You love me. I drive you absolutely crazy, yet you love me. Maybe something’s wrong with your genome, Dr. T’Soni.” Corrie had climbed atop to straddle her, then leaned down to kiss her deeply for a moment. Then her voice was serious. “I love you, too, The. Thank you.” She had taken to using the second syllable of Athena’s name as Athena had done with hers.

“Ugh. You’re welcome. Give me the number. Then we’ll see if I answer when they call.” She had stopped herself, “If they call.” 

“Don’t worry, they won’t call. I’m an unstoppable battle machine, trained by the Queen of Omega herself.” Lycoris had leaned back to flex all her muscles for her, and Athena had smiled at the sight.

But now, they were calling. Athena steadied her voice as she answered. “This is Athena T’Soni.”

“Ms. T’Soni. You are the registered emergency contact for service member Lycoris Tevos. I’m sorry to tell you that Ms. Tevos has been injured in a training accident and is being transported to the Daughters of Elune Hospital at . . .” Her hearing seemed to fade as soon as she had this information. She needed to get to the Daughters of Elune as quickly as possible. She knew where it was. Although she didn’t hang up, she didn’t hear anything further as she began to run to the front of the lab building.

Athena had decided to grab a Skycab on the street, not trusting herself to drive in her frazzled mental state. In her head, she kept repeating, “Goddess, let her be okay,” as she worked up the courage to call Corrie’s parents. She wanted to call her own parents, but she felt it would be wrong to call them first. Again, she worked to steady her voice as a small holo of Thea Tevos appeared above her omni-tool. “Athena? Is everything alright?” 

Of course, she would ask that. Athena was close to Corrie’s parents, having grown up with them in her life, but they weren’t the top of the list for casual phone calls. The question knocked her confidence. She tried to answer, “Uh, no, actually . . .” She stopped and started again. “Aunt Thea, Corrie’s been in an accident. A training accident.” 

“A training accident?” Thea seemed confused by the information. Obviously, Corrie hadn’t mentioned she was in training this week to her parents. Her eyes lit up with a realization. “The shuttle crash they’re talking about on Westerlund News?”

Now Athena was confused. She hadn’t been following the news. In the lab, she was all work. “Um, I . . . I don’t know. Maybe. All I know is, she’s at the Daughters of Elune. I’m heading there now.”

“Okay, we’ll meet you there.” Athena was relieved when Thea hung up. 

As she tried to key in her mother’s omni-tool number, she was surprised to see that her mother was calling her. When she answered, her mother’s image appeared. She seemed worried as she spoke. “Athena, I’ve had some news about Lycoris through . . . some sources of mine.” “Mom, I know. I’m going to Daughters of Elune right now.” She realized she was crying. It was possible her mother knew more details about Corrie’s condition, but she knew she couldn’t bear to hear bad news, not while alone in the back of this cab. She quickly said, “I’ll see you there,” and hung up. She returned to the mantra in her head, “Goddess, let her be okay.”

 

Aria was driving the hover car in a very unsafe manner, but Thea didn’t say a word. They were quickly approaching the hospital and that was all she cared about. Aria was questioning her, but she didn’t have the answers.

“But why is Athena the one calling us about this? Shouldn’t someone from your office have informed you? You’re the Asari Councillor. She has your name, for Goddess’ sake.”

“I received an alert about the shuttle crash, but the information was very preliminary. Obviously, they didn’t have the names of everyone on board. There were multiple shuttles returning to the base at that time.”

“But why didn’t command contact us when they figured it out?”

“I can only assume Lycoris changed her registered contact.”

They were both silent for a moment. Lycoris and Athena’s intense relationship had become a sore point—again—over the last few months. When Thea and Aria had initially discovered that their daughter was sleeping with the daughter of their close friends, Liara T’Soni and Commander Shepard, they had all decided not to object too strongly for fear of driving them to hide it. Well, Shephard had objected very strongly, but the three asari had finally convinced her to calm down. Humans were much more uptight about their children’s sex lives than asari were. Maybe the shorter lifespan allowed for fewer mistakes—or simply amplified them.

Still as the years had gone by, all four parents had begun to worry. First, they had worried mostly about accidental pregnancies, but as time passed, this worried faded. Their children took precautions. Eventually the main concern grew to be that this relationship was just much too serious too soon. For asari, the maiden years were typically a time for adventures and exploration including in the realm of relationships.

But even though Athena excelled in her studies and Lycoris had warmed up to the idea of commando training, they were both most happy to simply be together and stay in Armali, seldom even venturing to other parts of Thessia. Athena had recently gotten a small apartment close to the lab where she was doing research for her second doctorate, but this was a small step compared to the wanderings of others she had known in the early years of school. It was just another place for the couple to be together alone.

Thea remember how only months before, Aria had provoked Lycoris to anger over breakfast during one of her few visits home. She had sighed, loudly and sarcastically, then said,“Eating Athena’s favorite cereal again? Isn’t there anything about her you’ve grown bored with yet?”

“You know, being with the most beautiful, most intelligent asari in this city just isn’t boring to me. But thanks for asking.”

“Lycoris, you’re only a maiden once. It’s a big universe, and there are lots of beautiful and intelligent people in it.”

“Well, Dad . . . I’m sure you fucked enough of them for the both of us.”

Aria eyes flashed with annoyance. Thea jumped in to try to defuse the situation. “Language, Lycoris.”

“Language?! Goddess, are you two prudes who can’t hear a bad word or libertines disappointed your daughter isn’t getting banged by enough strangers? Or is it species? Make up your minds.”

Aria dove back in, and said with a cold look and dark tone, “I’m your father. You should treat me with a little more respect.”

“Well, I’m your daughter, and you should respect me, too, but here we are.” Lycoris put down the cereal box and pushed back from the table. “I’m leaving.” She quickly kissed Thea on the top of the crest. “See you, Mom.” She had turned toward her father, returning an even icier version of her stare, and Aria had the strange sensation of looking in a mirror that moved independently from her. “Dad,” she said stiffly, then turned and walked down the hall and out the door.

Aria looked at Thea after it slammed shut. “Why is my own kid the person in the whole galaxy who fears me the least?”

“Probably because she knows she’s one of the few who’s100% safe from you.” Thea held up a finger. “Her.” A second finger. “Me.” She hesitated on the third. “I think that’s the full list.”

“Goddess, her attitude.”

“Yes, I know. I can’t imagine where she gets it . . .” Thea smirked. She continued, “Try to imagine how you felt when my mother couldn’t stand you being bound to me.”

Aria crossed her arms across her chest. “I didn’t give a fuck.”

“Mmm-hmm,” Thea replied with a raised eyebrow. “Well, Lycoris is a little more tender in the heart than you were when you first met my mother. She doesn’t like it when you question her relationship with Athena. She loves her and that’s all there is to it. I know what you’re saying and why you’re saying it, but she doesn’t want to hear it.”

Aria grumbled, “I don’t know what’s more annoying. Her being unreasonable or you being too reasonable.”

Thea took Aria’s hands in hers. “Let’s agree it’s her so we can start to flirt now that we have the house back to ourselves.”

“Fuck flirting,” Aria had snarled. She had pulled Thea to her side with one hand and cleared the table with the other. Some things never changed.

 

As the memory faded, Thea broke the silence in the car. “She’s going to be alright.”

“She better be.” Aria tried to sound threatening—to whom? the universe?—but instead, her fear came through. Thea reached for her forearm and squeezed it gently.

 

The words “Daughters of Elune” glowed in the gathering mist of a rapidly darkening sky as Aria parked the hover car. After consulting with the asari at the front desk, they made their way to a waiting room on the second floor. Athena was sitting on a sofa, holding her hands together in her lap. Thea thought she looked very worried—and very young. She imagined the state Lycoris would be in if the situation were reversed. Athena stood when she saw them.

‘’Aunt Thea.” Athena gave her a short hug. She hesitated before saying, “Aria.” Although she had known all three of Liara and Shepard’s children from birth, Aria had never accepted the title Aunt. It made addressing her a little awkward for the three of them. She was also not overly fond of hugs.

Thea spoke. “The front desk said she’s in surgery for her leg.” They had been relieved to hear it, and much of the fear that weighed them down in the car had eased.

“Yes. A nurse came to say it would be just a little while longer a bit ago. At least her life isn’t in danger. Unlike some of the others.” Athena glanced around the waiting room meaningfully.

“Did they say anything else?”

Athena replied quietly, “They said maybe a mine or grenade went off accidentally in the shuttle. There are burns on the leg, but other serious tissue damage too. I don’t know. I thought maybe you would know more about it.”

“Not yet,” Thea said.

Aria spoke up, making direct eye contact with Athena. “So, it seems Lycoris has made you her registered contact.”

“Yeahhh,” Athena hesitated. “She just didn’t want to bother you with, you know, any minor incidents.” She tried to think of more to say, but couldn’t come up with anything in her current state.

“Athena, you should talk to my wife about a career in politics sometime.” She couldn’t tell if Aria was mocking her, but she didn’t really care either way. She tended to prefer defusing situations—one of the reasons she and Corrie worked so well together.

“Oh, it’s probably better for everyone if I just stick to science.” 

Suddenly, Liara and Shephard were in the doorway of the waiting room. “Mom! Dad!” Liara was practically Athena’s clone. Athena rushed to her. She melted into her mother’s embrace. Seeing the two of them together, Aria remembered another time in another waiting room here. It seemed long ago now. Waiting for Liara to give birth to Athena. How worried Shepard had been. How excited and nervous they had been, with Thea newly pregnant with Lycoris. Maybe fate had joined them somehow. These were not Aria’s typical thoughts, but in that moment they softened her toward Athena.

If Athena was Lycoris’s contact, it was because that was what Lycoris wanted, Aria had no doubt of that. Lycoris loved Athena, and Athena loved her back. Aria glanced at the other anxious faces in the waiting room, then resolved to not give the young couple such a hard time going forward. If it didn’t work out in the end—well, few things did. Let them enjoy it while it made them happy. For a second, she thought of Liselle, the daughter she had lost many years before. You never knew when it all might be taken away.

A nurse came to the door. “Family of Lycoris Tevos?” Thea and Aria walked toward the door, then Aria hesitated. “Come on, Athena,” she said, gesturing for her to come with them. Liara gave her daughter one more squeeze then said, “Go on. We’ll be here.”

 

The surgeon had told Lycoris to count back from 10. At 5, she had suddenly found herself walking through the water garden at Avalon, the beautiful estate she and Athena had been building together for the last 12 years. The air smelled amazing and felt warm on her skin.

Commander Shepard had shared all sorts of stories and histories from Earth with Athena, and in turn, Athena had shared many with Lycoris. Why Avalon had been chosen as the name for their imaginary home, neither could really remember anymore. It wasn’t strange to them for an English estate to be accompanied by a Japanese garden—in the world of dreams, you could have things however you wanted them.

Over time, this place had moved from their idle conversations and into their melds. Sometimes when they were making love, they would share images and ideas with one another of all the things their dream home would hold some day. Rooms for 10 daughters (all named already), a vid room, music chambers, a stable for horses, a theater in the round for performances of Athena’s plays, a combat simulation room, colorful curiosities from across the universe, and an AI named Pax to take care of the place when they weren’t there. He told excellent jokes.

At some point in the 12 years, Lycoris had started to feel like the whole thing was a bit too much of a childish game, but then as more time had gone by, she had grown to love it again. It was theirs. Filled with the things that fascinated them, excited them, the things they loved—including each other. It was something no one else would ever share. A place where their relationship lived that was so much safer than the real world.

As she watched koi fish drifting through one of the ponds, she thought she heard Athena calling her.  
“Cor, can you hear me? Are you ready to wake up?”

When she opened her eyes, she was in a dim, chilly room—utilitarian and white. But Athena was there, holding her hand.  
“The, I was just watching the koi at Avalon.”

Then she heard her father’s voice. “I thought they said there was no sign of brain damage.”

Athena let out a little laugh filled with emotion, “There isn’t. It’s . . . it’s just a thing we say to each other sometimes.” She didn’t want to explain any further. “Corrie, do you know where you are now?”

Lycoris looked around. Athena was holding her right hand, and behind her, her mother was looking down, appearing anxious and relieved at the exact same time. She slowly turned her head and realized her father was holding her left hand. She was bemused by this, but tried to look into Aria’s eyes to convey that this meant a lot to her.

“A hospital,” she guessed.

“A hospital, yes. Do you remember what happened?”

“Arrius--I was going to show him a picture of you. Jessica was telling him how hot you are. . .” Athena wasn’t sure what to make of any of that, but she did start to blush. Before she could question it, Lycoris continued hesitantly. “The shuttle. The shuttle crashed. My leg.” She tried to look down, but a blanket covered everything. “Is it okay? Is everyone else okay?”

“Your leg is going to be okay, but it’s going to take a little while. I’m not sure about everyone else yet, but I’ll find out.” Despite feeling self-conscious with Corrie’s parents there, Athena let go of Corrie’s hand to lean forward, hold her cheek, and whisper next to her crest, “Cor, I love you. I am so relieved you’re here with us. But we’ll get back to Avalon as soon as we can.” She kissed her on the bandaged forehead.

“I love you too,” Lycoris said, not self-conscious in the least.

Athena leaned back and stood up. “I’m going to go see what I can find out about everyone else from your shuttle. I think your parents want a little time alone with you.” She leaned forward again and stage-whispered, “Be nice to them. They were very worried too.” She squeezed her hand one last time. “I’ll be back.”

“You better be,” Lycoris replied. Aria’s chest filled with something like joy to hear one of her constant threats drop from her daughter’s lips. They weren’t so different; if anything, they were probably too much the same.

Thea took up Athena’s position on the right, taking Lycoris’s hand and pressing it to her lips. “We were very worried.”

Lycoris closed her eyes, beginning to drift off again under the influence of the drugs they had given her for surgery. “You don’t have to worry about me. I’m an unstoppable battle machine, trained by the Queen of Omega herself,” she boasted sleepily. With a huge smile on her face and tears welling up, Thea caught Aria’s eye. Aria smiled back and held onto Lycoris’s hand even tighter.


End file.
